Posted by Dale Goble on November 4, 2009 at 8:47pm
Ted is sending me some of his pickups for my first build.
How does pickup placement effect the sound.
Close to the bridge ?
Close to the neck ?
Want an ole dirty blues sounding kind of thing.
Teds pickup sound great and he's winding them to give me that ole Delta dirty sound.
Thanks for your help.
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the fellow a page ago who asked about a pickup on rails, yeah gibson did a bass with this called the 'ripper'
you can get a real appropriate rail if you pull apart an old computer cd drive
im of the opinion that the closer to the bridge you put the pickup the more you emphasise odd order harmonics and the closr to the neck the more you get the even order harmonics, which is why the neck pickup sounds rounder and fatter and the bridge pickup is spiky and crunchy. also the closer to the bridge it is the closer to the strings you gotta go because the amplitude of the singing string is narrower at that point. I like old lap steels where the pickup IS the bridge
Mungo Park > The Phrygian KidJanuary 23, 2012 at 10:37pm
As a side not this thread links to the Ed Roman site, lots of writing their about his passion to build great guitars. I unfortunately was wooed by his rhetoric and bought something from him. I bought overpriced crap!!!
I figured his best advertising is his customers. I have bought a lot of things from the net but this was the first rip off.
Sorry to hijack the thread but I did not want people to see his site and mistakenly buy anything from him.
to my ears the bridge pickup gives a clearer cleaner sound. the neck being fuller and richer but also muddies up quicker when you start to use overdrive/distortion. i personaly dont like a lot of overdrive and cant stand straight distrotion. so i tend to play on the neckpickup a lot.
Ermmm.... on almost every guitar I have ever owned (& thats a lot!), I thought it was the neck pickup that was the horrible trebly one, and the bridge one the bassy crunchy one! In fact, I very very rarely use the neck pickups, and I positivly revile all strats!
Anyway, where the pickup is placed doesnt make much difference - as all the others said, the nearer the bridge it is the more trebley it should sound - just strum the strings right next to the nridge to see why - but there are more important factors.
The pup itself is obviously the main thing here - how its wound, how many winds, magnet type etc etc - and with one of Teds you can place it anywhere and its gonna sound great right? If you want to test it, do as Skeesix says, wire it to a jack, plug it in and hold it over an already string guitar - move it up and down and see how much difference moving it those 3 inches makes. Not much.
Then youre prolly gonna have a tone pot anyway. With a capacitor of your choice. Then youre gonna run it through an amp I assume. With lots of tone shaping knobs on it...
Id just place it where it looks best, get strings on and play it to death!!
Ermmm.... on almost every guitar I have ever owned (& thats a lot!), I thought it was the neck pickup that was the horrible trebly one, and the bridge one the bassy crunchy one! In fact, I very very rarely use the neck pickups, and I positivly revile all strats!
Anyway, where the pickup is placed doesnt make much difference - as all the others said, the nearer the bridge it is the more trebley it should sound - just strum the strings right next to the nridge to see why - but there are more important factors.
The pup itself is obviously the main thing here - how its wound, how many winds, magnet type etc etc - and with one of Teds you can place it anywhere and its gonna sound great right? If you want to test it, do as Skeesix says, wire it to a jack, plug it in and hold it over an already string guitar - move it up and down and see how much difference moving it those 3 inches makes. Not much.
Then youre prolly gonna have a tone pot anyway. With a capacitor of your choice. Then youre gonna run it through an amp I assume. With lots of tone shaping knobs on it...
Id just place it where it looks best, get strings on and play it to death!!
Closer to the neck will give you a bassier sound, while closer to the bridge will give you a treblier sound. Scale length has a similar effect. A short scale length will be treblier (think mandolin), while a longer scale length will be bassier (think bass). The effect on a guitar-like scale length will be more subtle (24-3/4" Gibson scale, vs. 25-1/2" Fender scale).
That's why guitars often have two pickups (or three in the case of a Strat), so you can switch from the bassier neck sound to the treblier bridge sound. Or you can switch on both to get a "middle" sound.
Or you can do like Ronnie Earl does, and just switch on the neck pickup, but vary where you pick on the strings - ie close to the neck or close to the bridge.
ps. for experimentation, you can hook up the pickup to an amp, then hold it close to the strings in varying positions to see what you like. The pickup doesn't have to be under the strings to work, just near the strings.
I know this is an old thread but I am new here and learning. This gave me an idea of mounting a pup on rails that allowed you to slide the pup to any location between the bridge and the base of the neck. Surely that's been tried before.?
I think placement is all about the tone you want. The closer to the bridge you place the pick-up the higher the tone will be. Like so many here have said before, there are no rules. My best advice: Experiment Experiment Experiment.
Dale: to answer your question in simplest terms, the longer the scale the deeper the tone. Think about an upright bass compared to an electric. Of course there are exceptions to every rule, but that's a general guide line.
I've heard a good place to put the pickup is approx where the 24th fret would be... Strats are usually like that.
Strats are also typically 25.5" scale... seems like a pretty "standard" length, you should be good with that. Plus, if your 6 stringer is 25.5, the CBG will feel similar if you use the same scale length.
I've heard a good place to put the pickup is approx where the 24th fret would be... Strats are usually like that.
Strats are also typically 25.5" scale... seems like a pretty "standard" length, you should be good with that. Plus, if your 6 stringer is 25.5, the CBG will feel similar if you use the same scale length.
Replies
the fellow a page ago who asked about a pickup on rails, yeah gibson did a bass with this called the 'ripper'
you can get a real appropriate rail if you pull apart an old computer cd drive
im of the opinion that the closer to the bridge you put the pickup the more you emphasise odd order harmonics and the closr to the neck the more you get the even order harmonics, which is why the neck pickup sounds rounder and fatter and the bridge pickup is spiky and crunchy. also the closer to the bridge it is the closer to the strings you gotta go because the amplitude of the singing string is narrower at that point. I like old lap steels where the pickup IS the bridge
As a side not this thread links to the Ed Roman site, lots of writing their about his passion to build great guitars. I unfortunately was wooed by his rhetoric and bought something from him. I bought overpriced crap!!!
I figured his best advertising is his customers. I have bought a lot of things from the net but this was the first rip off.
Sorry to hijack the thread but I did not want people to see his site and mistakenly buy anything from him.
Cheers Ron.
No rules, I like it.
Roosterman said:
Anyway, where the pickup is placed doesnt make much difference - as all the others said, the nearer the bridge it is the more trebley it should sound - just strum the strings right next to the nridge to see why - but there are more important factors.
The pup itself is obviously the main thing here - how its wound, how many winds, magnet type etc etc - and with one of Teds you can place it anywhere and its gonna sound great right? If you want to test it, do as Skeesix says, wire it to a jack, plug it in and hold it over an already string guitar - move it up and down and see how much difference moving it those 3 inches makes. Not much.
Then youre prolly gonna have a tone pot anyway. With a capacitor of your choice. Then youre gonna run it through an amp I assume. With lots of tone shaping knobs on it...
Id just place it where it looks best, get strings on and play it to death!!
That's why guitars often have two pickups (or three in the case of a Strat), so you can switch from the bassier neck sound to the treblier bridge sound. Or you can switch on both to get a "middle" sound.
Or you can do like Ronnie Earl does, and just switch on the neck pickup, but vary where you pick on the strings - ie close to the neck or close to the bridge.
ps. for experimentation, you can hook up the pickup to an amp, then hold it close to the strings in varying positions to see what you like. The pickup doesn't have to be under the strings to work, just near the strings.
Skeesix
Dale: to answer your question in simplest terms, the longer the scale the deeper the tone. Think about an upright bass compared to an electric. Of course there are exceptions to every rule, but that's a general guide line.
Nathan King said:
Strats are also typically 25.5" scale... seems like a pretty "standard" length, you should be good with that. Plus, if your 6 stringer is 25.5, the CBG will feel similar if you use the same scale length.
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